Another World
by DigitalxStar
Summary: REVISED! Ted, Audrey, Horton, and Jojo, separated from their worlds, find themselves in a brand new world, called Seussia, filled with many magical creatures and people. Together, alongside others, they must vanquish an evil witch who has threatened to destroy Seussia and their worlds. Dr.Seuss/misc. fantasy genre crossover
1. Prologue

**A/N: I do not own The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, or any Seuss characters/cities/creatures mentioned. Anything else mentioned I may own but may contain various fantasy aspects related to various fantasy/anime/video game genres. This story came to mind after being a lover of fantasy novels and stories and wanted to find a way to combine them using. I always love feedback and reviews, so please read and review! I hope you enjoy :D**

* * *

Let me tell you a story. A story so old, when the trees were young and the sun newly shined. From the Castle of Krupp to the peaceful city of Solla Sollew, there existed one world, a world in which everyone lived in harmony; no war, no sadness, no evil. A world where creatures of all kinds existed in happiness and friendship.

This world…was the world of Seuss. Or in shorter terms…Seussia.

No one knew who Seuss ever was…was he their god? Creator? All they know is he sent down The Phoenix, a creature from the heavens to watch over this peaceful world. The Phoenix was beautiful, a creature so heavenly and pure that just gazing upon it's rainbow colored wings would bring one's life prosperous and full of happiness. But The Phoenix couldn't watch over the world alone…oh no. So she created three guardians that roamed this world in her place as she watched from the heavens.

First came the Skylax, a winged creature such as herself, who watched over the sky and the beings that flew between the clouds. Then came the Sealax, guardian of the sea and the inhabitants that swam through the ocean's blue waters. Then lastly, the Lorax, guardian of the earth, trees, and land dwellers. All together they became the Guardian Trinity, a watched over Seussia alongside their heavenly goddess.

But peace could only last so long…

The pureness inside it's citizens hadn't lasted too long, soon people started craving dark desires; desires of lust, greed, power, and many more. Fighting and battles broke out between kingdoms, and lives were being lost. The Phoenix could not stand for this, so with her power, she vanquished away the darkness inside people. Soon everything was at peace again, but unknown to the Phoenix and Seussia's now again innocent inhabitants…something evil was coming.

The Phoenix banished away the darkness to another dimension, unknown that these desires soon would take physical form. These creatures became the Dark Matter, eyeless beings of darkness and despair. There had been so much evil desires banished away that they became stronger and increased in number…and soon found a way into Seussia once again.

The Dark Matter had the ability to inhabit themselves inside people's hearts and souls, and made them commit horrible acts: acts of lust, greed, power. Soon war broke out between the lands again, causing death left and right. And with each dead soul possessed by the Dark Matter, the Dark Matter grew stronger, and more deadly.

The Phoenix and the guardians fought against the Dark Matter, but their power was not enough. So the Phoenix called forth four warriors, each carrying a magical weapon under the power of the four elementals: earth, water, wind, and fire.

The bearer of the earth weapon, The Gollum Bracelets, which had the ability to crush stone walls and mountains, came from a powerful race of were-mammoths, called Manahorns, that resided in the Icicle Mountains. His name was Wilfred, a strong, gruff warrior who was the strongest in his village.

Then came the bearer of the water, a beautiful and kind human maiden named Arabella, a daughter of seven. Her weapon was created from the tufts of the oldest Trufulla Tree, called the Trufulla Brush, which gave her the ability to create beings made of water.

The bearer of wind was also a warrior of his clan, a race of were-hawks called Brawlhawks, whose name was Hendrix. His weapon was the Horn of Yop, which had the ability to call forth beings of the sky at one's aid. He preferred to fight with his trusty spear though.

And last, a stubborn, buff warrior named Vorcanoth, son of one Lord Droon, was chosen as the bearer of fire, wielding the weapon known as the Burning Will sword, which was carved from the tooth of an ancient dragon, and could summon the spirits of past dragons to one's aid, as well as become more powerful with each Dark Matter it slain.

The four warriors, alongside the guardians, fought against the Dark Matter with ease, but with only a few Dark Matter remaining, Vorcanoth's ego came over him, and he insisted to destroy the rest on his own. The other warriors, beside Hendrix, agreed, but there was nothing Hendrix could do, for he knew he could not turn on his own comrade. However, Vorcanoth's lust for power took him over,'_Why should I listen to the Phoenix when with my great power, I could rule over this pitiful world myself?'_ His desire was so great that hundreds of Dark Matter were drawn to him, and soon became the most powerful dark creature ever known. He threw aside his sword and created a new sword of darkness…The Sword of Vorca.

With Vorcanoth's new evil power, he had the ability to create Dark Matter from the tip of his hands, and the warriors and guardians were too outnumbered, and were defeated. Darkness covered the world, once innocent beings became evil…all seemed at lost.

The Pheonix watched in despair, knowing with her power alone she could not defeat Vorcanoth and his army…but she could lock them away back to the Netherlands. So using the last of life force, she banished Vorcanoth and the Dark Matter back to their world, and from her ashes created the Vorcan Portal, and a gate that would stand as the bridge between both worlds, called the Gate of Groul, using Vorcanoth's sword as the key. The guardians also helped using their power to create a barrier using three stones that locked away access to this portal, at the cost of becoming weaker and smaller, but still able to protect their lands, and their powers were locked in these stones and scattered. The Phoenix's last dying wish was to separate Seussia into smaller worlds, where only a few still pure creatures still inhabited the original lands.

With Vorcanoth and the Dark Matter locked away, peace returned to Seussia and the now connected worlds. The guardians also agreed to watch over the other worlds as well as their own, and jump between worlds at will. The warriors weapons were locked away as well…not able to be wielded again unless it was called for.

But for how long could peace last…?

* * *

The wind blew harshly through the dead valley, almost sounding as if the wind was howling. A cloaked figure ran against the gusts, and ran behind a pair of large rocks, as if they were hiding. A roar bellowed from behind and two large, tiger like creatures stopped in their tracks, sniffing around as if they were looking for something. A hidden figure each perched on the each of the creatures' backs, looking among their surroundings as they both held lit lanterns in their hands.

" Do you see anything?" One spoke to the other.

"Nothing. Come on, maybe she ran ahead." Both commanded the felines they were riding to advance forward, and disappeared in the distance.

After waiting a few moments, the cloaked figure emerged from their hiding place, quickly glancing around to make sure they were alone. They quickly ran toward a huge stone wall, one that look hundreds of years old with ancient writing carved in. The figure pulled back their hood to reveal the face of a woman, long black hair quickly covering her features as the wind continued to bellow around her. She lifted up a finger and a small flame quickly emitted from her fingertips, lighting up a little bit of the wall before her, showing the carving characters in better light for her. A wide grin drew across her face, followed by a small chuckle.

"Yes, I've found it," she spoke silently," The Gate of Groul…"

* * *

**A/N: And that's the prologue, hopefully it helps for better understanding of what's to come ahead. The Dark Matter were based off the Heartless from Kingdom Hearts, so if it seems very similar, that's the reason. The world of Seussia does contain characters and elements from the books, as well fantasy beings and beasts. These beasts are mostly OC, but they are all based on existing creatures from various series. More Seuss characters besides the main stories(The Lorax and Horton Hears a Who) won't be shown right away, but they will be beginning to appear around Chapter 4-5.**

**Next****- Chapter 1: A Brand New Dawn in Thneedville**


	2. A Brand New Dawn in Thneedville

**A/N: And here is chapter one, which revolves around the universe from the recent film adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. I do not own characters or elements from the movie, except for the monsters near the end of this chapter, which again, are inspired by similar creatures from fantasy/anime/video games. Enjoy :D**

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Thneedville. A city inhabited by many people, short and tall, young and old, fat and thin. Only months ago the city and its people was entirely revolved around plastic trees and bottled air, with no plant life what-so-ever. Years ago, before Thneedville was built, once stood a large valley of Trufulla Trees, with many animals living happily and peacefully between their tufts. That is, until a man called the Once-ler decided to chop them down and created a product called the thneed, a thing which he claimed everyone would need. He built a large factory and chopped down the trees to the very last one, and when the last tree fell, no more thneeds could be made, so he lost it all…and the valley became dark and desolate, covered with smogulous smoke, and the animals gone. The Once-ler banished himself away from human contact, while the once beautiful town that stood in the valley transformed into a large city, walled off from the wasteland and a man named Aloysius O'Hare became a zillionaire by making clean air and selling it to people for profit, since the air around them was no longer breathable.

Years had past and the people of Thneedville lived content with no plant life and paying for air, but it wasn't until a young boy named Ted Wiggins questioned where all the trees had gone, and with help from now old Once-ler outside of town, was given the last Trufulla seed, and plant it in the middle of town. It was then that the citizens of Thneedville realized it was silly to pay for air when the trees made it for free, so from that tree more seeds fell, which sprouted into more Trufulla trees. Soon the air was clean again, and O'Hare Industries was put out of business.

* * *

A young boy, about the age of 12, awoke at the sound of a Swomme Swan's call, and jumped out of bed, eager for the day to begin. He ran into his closet and quickly changed into a long sleeved, white shirt, followed by pulling over a red and orange striped shirt, and blue jeans. When finally fully clothed, he ran over to the window and slammed it open.

"Today's the day!" He cheerfully cried out, scaring a bird out of its nest and falling from the tree. Unable to contain his excitement, he grabbed a pair of gloves and made his way out of his room and down the stairs, ready to bolt out the front door, when he was suddenly grabbed by the collar by a middle-aged woman, obviously his mother.

"Ted, just where do you think you're going in such a hurry?" She asked her son, who was no-other than young Ted Wiggins.

"Mooommm!" The boy whined," Today's the day I finally go on a date with Audrey, and I can't afford to be a minute late!"

"And you plan to go on a date without breakfast first?" She gave Ted a questionable look, causing the boy to just groan.

"But mom-!"

"No buts to it young man, you're not leaving this house without some proper food in your stomach. I bet even Audrey would agree, hmm?" She let her son go and he just groaned, dragging his feet over to the breakfast table, where his grandmother was already sitting.

"Oh, good morning Ted!" She greeted her grandson cheerfully.

"Morning Grammy…" Ted replied back in a bored tone, grabbing a bottle of milk out of the fridge and a box of cereal out of the cupboard.

"Isn't today your little date with Audrey? What are you doing here?"

"Mom won't let me go without breakfast," Ted grumbled as he sat down in a huff and started pouring the cereal in the bowl.

"Oh well you better hurry, don't want to be late~" Grammy spoke cheerfully, just making Ted more annoyed. Suddenly, the home phone rang, and Mrs. Wiggins went to go pick it up.

"Hello, Wiggins residence" There was a slight pause," Oh hello Audrey, how are you?"

"IS THAT AUDREY?" Ted sprang from his seat and ran over to his mom, prying the phone from her hands.

"Ted-!"

"Hello? Audrey!" Ted ignored his mother's annoyed words, trying to hear. His mother just shook her head and walked way.

"Ted?" The voice from the other line spoke, obviously being Audrey.

"Hey, I'm so sorry about being late. You see, my mom wouldn't let me go without eating breakfast and-"

"No, no I'm not calling about that Ted," Audrey interrupted, causing Ted to falter slightly.

"…Oh…" He answered sadly, thinking, '_She probably is calling to cancel or something…I should have known it was too good to be true…'_

"The reason I'm calling is…well…I can't really explain it right now but…can you meet me outside of town at Mr. Once-ler's house?"

"Uh…s-sure!" Ted answered in a better mood,_ 'Maybe the date is still going on!' _He reassured himself in his mind.

"Great! I'll meet you there in 5 minutes!" Audrey said.

"Sure thing! See ya!" Ted ended the call and hung up, grabbing a backpack,a helmet, and a pair of goggles on a side table and started heading out the door, but not without his mother objecting.

"And where do you think you're going without breakfast?" She questioned the boy, but Ted was in too much of a hurry to care.

"Mom, I can't worry about that right now! I told Audrey I'd meet her right away! I'll eat later, don't worry!" He glanced quickly at his mom and Grammy and waved goodbye, heading over to his motor scooter.

"Theodore Wiggins!" His mom shouted at him from the front door, but the young boy had already backed out of the drive and was on his way. Mrs. Wiggins just grumbled angrily and walked back into the house, shutting the door behind her.

"Oooh, that boy is in a heap of trouble when he gets home…" She mumbled out loud, plopping down on the couch.

"Oh, let the kids have their fun. It's their first date after all." Grammy walked over to her daughter and sat beside her, " I still remember the day when you were young and were going on dates with every boy in town." She giggled cheerfully, making the woman embarrassed.

"Whatever mom…" Mrs. Wiggins sighed at her mother, grabbing the remote nearby and flipping on the television. The channel immediately turned to the weather. A man in a grey business suit appeared on screen.

"_This is Pete Briggs with Thneedville weather report. Odd, large storm clouds have appeared off the side of Weehawken, surprisingly moving at a high speed. Local meteorologists are trying to determine where this strange weather has suddenly appeared from, but so far, there has been no results. We suggest citizens to move indoors and stay in your homes, for we do not know what this peculiar weather will bring."_

"That's weird…it's summer. We never get storms." Mrs. Wiggins said, only to be butted in by her mother.

"Well, what can you expect dear? It's only natural since the clean air came back that the weather may be a little peculiar. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." Her mother's words gave her a bit of relief.

"I guess you're right mom…" She answered, " I just hope Ted will have a little smarts to come back home during a storm…"

* * *

Ted rode his scooter through the town, going as fast as he could so he could meet Audrey in time. He took a small road that was built since the wall was torn down that led outside to a beautiful, still-blooming Trufulla valley. Brown Bar-ba-loots waddled around and ate the Trufulla fruit as Swommee Swans nested in their tufts, and Humming Fish had arrived in the new, clean rivers. It had only been a few months, so many trees were still sapplings and small. Ted traveled over a small bridge until the old Once-ler's house was in sight, and he could see his friend Audrey, standing outside the house, looking as beautiful as always. He waved to the girl and parked his scooter to the side, taking off his helmet, then jumping off and quickly running to greet her.

She was wearing her usual yellow sundress and striped under-shirt, but instead of her regular shoes she was wearing, tall, knee-high, lace-up, brown boots, and her auburn hair was pulled back a bit by a bright, green-ish blue headband. "Audrey…" Ted spoke nervously, his face reddening" You look…amazing…"

The older girl giggled at the boy's love struck face, "Aww, thanks Ted." She walked over to his side, planting a small peck on his cheek, almost causing him to fall over in smitten.

"S-So…uh…Audrey…" He managed to speak after a few moments of not being able to comprehend words, "What did you call me out to Mr. Once-ler's house for…?"

Audrey's face fell, causing Ted to worry. "Well…" She spoke, "Have you noticed we haven't heard from him for a couple days now?"

Ted looked at her with a quizzed expression,_ "…That's it?" _He questioned in his mind before speaking, " Well, maybe he's busy…or decided to spend a few days alone…cause, you know, the guy is old after all…"

"I guess…" Audrey spoke, but immediately countered, "But…even so, he's always outside his house watering the plants or feeding the animals or talking to the Lorax, and I've ridden my bike every day checking up on him but his house is all blacked out and no one ever seems to be home."

"Have you tried knocking on the door?" Ted asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…no," Audrey answered, "Because…if he is home, I'm afraid he'll think I'm disturbing him."

If it wasn't Audrey, Ted would face palm so hard, but he didn't. He sighed and spoke calmly back, "Audrey, he knows us, he's not gonna think were bothering him or anything. It's natural that he thinks we're worried about him after not seeing him for a couple days." Ted walked up to the door and knocked a couple times, "See? Now he'll just come to the door and greet us like he'll always do."

Audrey smiled and nodded, running up the steps and to Ted's side. They waited a couple moments before Ted knocked again, but there was still no answer. So Ted knocked again, then after a few minutes, again, but the door never opened.

"..I guess he isn't home then…" Ted scratched his head in confusion, then Audrey quickly skipped over to a nearby window, trying to peek inside, but it was too dark. Ted, not giving up, pounded on the door harder.

"Hello! Mr. Once-ler, are you there? It's Ted and Audrey!" Ted then unconsciously turned the knob of the door, and the door slowly creaked open.

"It's…unlocked…" Ted whispered in slight shock, and Audrey returned to his side. They both looked at each other for a few seconds before Ted decided to take the first step inside, Audrey following after. Everything was pitch black, no lights on whatsoever, and the only sound that could be heard was that of the creaking walls.

"I can't see a damn thing!" Ted shouted before he suddenly found himself tripping over an unknown object, and he fell face first to the ground. "Oof!"

" Hold on, I think I found a light!" Audrey spoke before she flipped a switch, and the light brightened up the room. Then the two youths gasped at the sight before them,

Everything was in a complete wreck; chairs were broken, tables thrown around, portraits smashed, everything basically just looked like a robber had broken into the house and ransacked everything. Audrey began to panic, Ted immediately taking action.

"I'll go check the other rooms!" He picked himself off the floor and made his way into every room of the house, to the kitchen, the bedroom, bathroom, every room accessible, and they were just as wrecked and torn apart as the front room. But no Once-ler. He came down from the stairs back to where Audrey still stood, " He's nowhere in the house!" Audrey just continued to panic more.

"What if someone kidnapped him?" She exclaimed, causing Ted to give her a questioned look.

"Kidnap? Why would they want to kidnap him?"

Before Audrey could answer, a loud boom shook the whole house, causing Ted to trip down a couple steps. It almost sounded like thunder. Audrey quickly ran out the open door to check what was going on outside, Ted picking himself up and quickly following after.

Dark, looming storm clouds began to form in the sky above, thunder echoing through the hills, frightening the animals and causing them to scatter. What made these clouds so different from regular thunder clouds was a small, swirl that began to form in the middle, and the thunder was so booming that it made the entire land shake. Ted and Audrey just looked up in awe.

"Thunder clouds? I don't understand…!" Audrey tried to yell through the roaring booms from the clouds.

"Those can't be regular thunder clouds…" Ted spoke, his whole attention focused on the hurricane-like eye that continued to form. It was like something out of an alien movie he had saw recently.

Ted, without question, rushed to his scooter, put on his gear and turned on the engine, beckoning Audrey to hop on, "Audrey, come on!"

"But what about Mr. Once-ler? He's missing!" She spoke out, the ground shaking again through the thunder's loud booms and almost tripping over her own feet.

"We can't worry about that right now! We have to get home!" Audrey just stood there, looking back at the empty house, Ted getting more anxious and held out his hand, "AUDREY PLEASE!"

Audrey, after one last glance at the house, finally ran over to Ted and hopped on his scooter. Once on, Ted revved up it's engines and drove as fast as he could back to Thneedville.

* * *

The citizens of Thneedville began stopping from whatever they were doing, some peeking from their houses as the storm began to loom over the city. The mysterious eye of the storm began to get bigger, sparks of electricity beginning to spark simultaneously from the core. The people, clearly in awe, began to gather in the middle of town where the eye of the storm stood over, some people panicking, crying out different things.

"What's going on?"

"Isn't it summer? Why is there a storm?"

"This doesn't look natural!"

"Are we gonna die?"

"What if its aliens?"

"I lost my glasses!"

"Everyone settle down!" A gruff man dressed in a police uniform made his way into the middle of the crowd, trying to calm down the nervous crowd. "I assure you, everything is fine and under control!"

"LOOK OUT!" One citizen cried out, and a large, meteorite-like object spewed from the eye of the storm right to the heart of town, and everyone scattered. A contact made a huge sound, one that could be heard miles away. Dust and debris were thrown everywhere, denying anyone from seeing a thing.

After a few moments, the dust began to clear and people slowly gathered back to where the "meteorite" collided. It began to sizzle off it's surface from the heat, and soon the dust was all gone that it could been seen perfectly. The object was no bigger than a large rock, round-ish, about 7-8 feet tall in height, with a rocky surface. Overall, it just looked like a regular meteorite.

"Everyone, please, stand back," the same police officer spoke, making his way through the crowd and toward the mysterious object, where he began inspecting it. The citizens continued to stare in awe, some getting out cameras and phones and taking pictures. Then random questions rang out.

"Is it an alien life form?"

"Is it a UFO?"

"You idiot, it's just a stupid meteorite!"

"Is it gonna grow legs and start firing at us like in that one movie?"

"I STILL CAN'T FIND MY GLASSES!"

"Please, people! One at a time please!" The police officer answered in annoyance, clearing his throat and facing the crowd, "I assure you, this is nothing more than your run-of-a-mill space rock. This is now property of the City of Thneedville and will be studied by our team of geologists. Now…if anyone has any questions, you may raise your hand and I'll answer them one at a time." One person immediately raised their had, and the officer pointed at him, "Yes, you!"

"Do space rocks have eyes like that?"

"What-"

Before the officer could finish, there was a loud crunching noise, and screams and cries began to emit from the crowd, people beginning to scatter and run. The officer turned around, only to find himself face-to-face with a terrifying creature.

The creature looked like some kind of giant troll, around 10 feet in height, some of it's skin covered by rock-like objects. It had large, muscular arms with huge claws, stubby face and snout, and it's eyes were bright yellow. It opened it's jaws, showing an abundance of large teeth. The officer was frozen in fear. It wasn't until it let out a loud, bellowing roar that he screamed and ran away like the other citizens. The monster just rolled it's eyes, then spoke in a deep, gravely voice, "Puny humans…"

It wasn't a moment after when more began raining from the storm's eye, destroying buildings and cracking streets with each collision. Just as the first creature, others morphed from their rock-like state, some the same as the first, troll-like, followed by giant lizards, etc, and began terrorizing the entire city, the screams of people just ringing through the air. Suddenly, a much larger object emerged from the storm, and it morphed before making collision with the ground, landing right in front of the first creature. This creature was very dinosaur-like, and much bigger than the other monsters, almost standing 20 feet tall. Its skin color was that of a blue-ish tone, huge, muscular arms with huge claws, as well as various armor covering over various parts of its body, followed by a long, swaying tail. Two horns could be seen on the top of its head, and most of its face was covered with armor as well. But what was most noticeable was two, scythe-like weapons that was strapped to his back. The small troll creature looked up at the bigger creature and smiled, addressing it, "Commander Brutus, any orders?"

The dinosaur just smiled, showing it's large, sharper teeth, "Find the chosen ones of water and fire. Take no prisoners. Kill whoever gets in your way. The Dark Witch is counting on us…"

* * *

Ted and Audrey looked up in awe and total fear as the noticed meteorite-like objects began to rain down onto Thneedville. Screams of people began to echo through the buildings, followed by loud, bellowing roars.

"What is happening…? Oh my god…" Audrey spoke in a frightened voice, trembling.

"WE HAVE TO HURRY!" Ted exclaimed, and Audrey clung on tighter as he revved the scooter to full power. All that played in his mind was the images of his mom and grandma, how he hoped and prayed they were okay and they would make it in time before anything ugly would happen to them.

They finally reached the entrance to the city, but was immediately spotted by a large, troll-like creature that stood in their path.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?" Ted cried out, unable to take his foot off pedal.

"TED LOOK OUT!" Audrey cried out as the monster lunged at them, but they managed to just ride right under its large legs, and it missed. However the friction caused the scooter to fly forward and throw the two kids onto the ground.

"Augh!" Ted cried out as he made impact with the hard concrete, then quickly crawled over to Audrey, who was laying on the ground a couple feet away. She was alive, but moaning in pain.

"Audrey! Are you okay?" He cried out in fear, but she slowly began picking herself up, groaning. Unknown to them, the troll-like monster was watching them from several feet away, a small device in front of his left eye beginning to blink, as if he was scanning them or something…

Suddenly, it started jumping up and down, shouting, "I FOUND THEM! THE CHOSEN WARRIORS OF WATER OF FIRE!" He pointed over to Ted and Audrey, getting their attention.

"IT TALKS?" Ted questioned dumbfounded, but they noticed more different types of creatures starting to appear around them. Ted grabbed Audrey's hand and ran to his scooter, picking it up off the ground and hopping on, revving it to full power and beginning to make his way more into town.

"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE! THE COMMANDER WANTS THEM ALIVE!" the monster bellowed out again, and the others began to give chase.

Audrey looked back from the scooter, discovering the creatures were following after them. "What do they want with us?" She cried out, but Ted was too focused on getting to his house and protecting his mother and Grammy. One of the monsters jumped down in front of them, hoping to block their path, ready to strike, but Ted was too quick for its slow movement. Just when it lunged to strike. he quickly made a turn right and the creature only ended up colliding face-first with a lizard-like creature.

Now on the street where his house stood, he quickly was on the look-out, but when he finally spotted the house, he discovered they were already too late. A large, blue dinosaur stood in front on their lawn, surrounded by other creatures, and he could see his mother and grandma already in their clutches.

"MOM! GRAMMY!" He cried out.

"Let go of me you big, ugly, overgrown salamander!" Grammy was waving her cane at one of the lizard-like monsters that held her in their claws, hitting them hard on the head.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" The creature moaned in pain with each smack, but wasn't striking back.

"COMMANDER BRUTUS! THAT'S THEM!" The other creatures that were following the kids yelled as they had caught up.

Ted stopped the scooter in front and the large dinosaur, apparently named Brutus, turned around, grinning widely, "Well, well, well…" He spoke calmly, "If it isn't the little warriors of fire and water…" He then noticed he held his mom in his large claws.

"Ted!" His mom cried out to her son, distressed, "JUST WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about…" Ted snarled angrily at the creature, "But you get your big, ugly claws off of my family!" The boy clenched his hands, feeling a wave of anger envelop him...but he knew he could do nothing...

The monster merely chuckled, "What do you wish to do about it? You have no weapons of Destiny to defend yourselves. Oh wait, you don't even know what I'm saying." He and other creatures roared in laughter, then Brutus moved his face down to face Ted again, "Just be a good, little human and come with me…and I promise I won't harm your precious family…much…" He was just about to grab Ted when suddenly a bolt of lightning jolted from the sky above, hitting him square in the eye. The creature roared in pain, dropping Mrs. Wiggins. It was then that a small, orange, hairy creature with a large moustache appeared in front of Ted and Audrey, facing the creature angrily.

"THE LORAX!" Audrey cried out in relief.

"Stay back kids, I'll take care of this," The Lorax spoke as he faced Brutus and his minions, anger clouded in his eyes, _"I feared this day would come…"_

Brutus finally managed to stand straight again after the electrifying attack, and roared at the Lorax, " OUT OF MY WAY, YOU PUNY GUARDIAN OF THE FOREST!"

"I'm not gonna let you and any of your stupid lackeys lay a hand on these children or anyone else in this city!" The Lorax growled in response.

"Oh really? I'd like to see you try..." Brutus scoffed, unsheathing his two scythe-like weapons from his back, and aimed them at the Lorax. Pushing Ted and Audrey out of the way first, the orange guardian dodged the weapons with ease, resulting in them in colliding with the cement and getting stuck.

"DAMMIT!" Brutus cursed out, the Lorax landing a few feet away from him. He just stood there smirking as Brutus struggled to free his weapons, the dinosaur quickly turning to the other monsters," YOU IDIOTS! JUST DON'T STAND THERE LOOKING STUPID! GET HIM!"

The trolls and lizard men quickly nodded and lunged at the Lorax, the one lizard creature letting Ted's grandmother drop to the ground. Ted and Audrey quickly ran over to his grandma, seeing if she alright.

"Grammy! Are you okay?" Ted questioned her.

"I'm fine," She answered, brushing herself off," Those creatures obviously have no manners whatsoever."

Ted's mom then just ran over to them, all distraught and panicking.

"TED! WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON HERE? WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?"

"I know as much as much you do, mom." He answered,"I have no idea, but they've been after me and Audrey ever since we entered town." He looked over at the Lorax, who was dodging and evading various attacks from the other creatures.

"COME ON, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Ted's mom quickly tried to bolt to her car, but Brutus, now have pulled his weapons out from the ground, jumped in their path and crushing the car.

"You're not going anywhere..." He chuckled, raising his scythes to strike, but again was interrupted by The Lorax's bolt of lighting, hitting him in the face again. The creature roared in pain and tumbled backwards, but they had nowhere to run anyway, for the other creatures surrounded them from all sides.

_"I can't let this drag on any longer..."_ The Lorax thought to himself, then spoke out to the four, terrified humans behind him,"Everyone get close to me. Were getting out of here."

The creatures lunged forward at them, but The Lorax was ahead of them. With a snap of his fingers, a bright light emitted from him, blinding the area within a 1 mile radius. After a few seconds, the light disappeared...along with Ted, Audrey, his family, The Lorax, and the monsters.

* * *

**A/N: End of chapter 1. Hope you enjoyed it, it took a whole day to write this. Sorry if it was too cheesy, I did my best x-x Same with the prologue, even though some aren't technically Seuss characters, I tried to give them names taken from various Seuss books. Like always, please review! I love feedback. Next two chapters will focus on the worlds from Horton Hear's a Who, The Jungle of Nool then Whoville.**

**Next****- Chapter 2: The Jungle of Nool**


	3. The Jungle of Nool

**A/N: Took a few days, but here is chapter 2! I had to watch the movie of Horton Hears a Who once again before I typed out this chapter, so I could get names, characters, and references from the movie correct. I decided to follow from the movie instead of the book since I did so with the Lorax, plus it had more characters and stuff, so...yeah. Anyway, hope you enjoy.**

**Warning: There is slight blood in one part, but nothing too brutal**

* * *

"LOOK OUT BELLLOOOOOWWW!" A large elephant called out as he jumped from the top of a tree, diving into a large pond just below, creating a large splash. Five other animals, younger, laughed as they got soaked by the elephant's mighty impact, and the elephant emerged from the water, laughing as well. "And that kids…is how you do a Horton Omega Water Bomb 3000!"

The elephant was named Horton, a kind and friendly elephant who lived happily among the other animals in the mighty Jungle of Nool. He currently was teaching five other young animals who also resided in the jungle how to do mighty dive bombs in the water.

"Now who wants to try first?" He asked the kids, and the larger of the five, a rounded, orange-like creature, raised his hand first.

"Ooooh! Oooh! Me! Me! Me! Me!" He called out, jumping up and down.

"Alright, Tommy! Show us what ya' got!" Horton excitedly said, pushing the youth on, and he watched as Tommy struggled to get on the tree he had jumped off from. "Come on Tommy, you can do it!"

"Tommy can't do it. He's too fat!" one of the other kids giggled, this one female and looking like a kind of red bird with poofy blue hair.

"Am not!" Tommy shouted back in response, "I'm just big boned!"

"Now now Jessica, there's no need for name calling," Horton lectured the girl, and the bird just shrugged. Tommy then finally was able to climb onto the tree, bending it over slightly from his weight, but not as much as Horton.

"Atta' boy, Tommy!" Horton cheered him on, "Now…JUMP!"

Tommy took a deep breath, then with one jump, he leaped from the tree, yelling, "GERONIMO!" and made a perfect dive-bomb in the water, creating a huge splash.

"THAT WAS GREAT TOMMY!" Horton clapped him on, and Tommy emerged from the water, an achieving look on his face. He then turned to Jessica and stuck out his tongue.

"Let's see you make an awesome splash like that!" He laughed, but the bird just scoffed him off.

"I'd rather not. I just got my feathers preened." She 'hmphed' and turned her head.

"Who'd like to try next? What about you, Rudy?" Horton pointed to a purple joey kangaroo, who was the newly added student of the group. Before his mom wouldn't let him join the younger animals and kept him in her pouch, but now that she was friends with Horton, she allowed him to attend his classes.

"Uhm…" the joey spoke nervously, " I'll just…go last…"

"Alrighty then," Horton said, "Anyone else?"

A small, yellow yak-like animal was about to raise her hand when suddenly, a small-ish blue blur zipped by the kids and onto a rock nearby Horton. When still, he looked like a small, blue mouse with a long, curly tail.

"Horton!" He cried out, getting the elephant's attention.

"Morton!" The elephant answered with a grin, "What's up buddy?"

"Well…weird question, but you haven't seen Vlad anywhere recently, have you?"

"…Which Vlad now?" Horton questioned, remembering there were two Vlads in the jungle.

"…The one that isn't a cute little bunny that makes cookies." Morton answered.

"Oh…well if it was, I would say I saw him this morning. As for other Vlad…I can't say I have…why?" The elephant asked the small mouse.

"Well…it's been going around the jungle that he's well…missing." Morton answered, causing Horton to scratch his head.

"Missing…? Are you sure he isn't just…flying around, eating poor innocent animals and being creepy as usual kinda thing?"

"No…believe me, I would have known. I'm a usual target," the mouse boldly stated, "Apparently he's been gone for days. Some animals have even been bold enough to go to his nest and look. No sign of him whatsoever."

"Hmm…well," Horton decided to say, "Maybe it's a good thing. I mean, you don't have to worry anymore about being eaten. He pretty much creeped everyone out, maybe he decided to hit the hay and find something more…dark and dreary, like him. You know, just a thought."

"…Maybe," Morton answered, "Well! Just letting you know. See you around, Horton!" The mouse waved goodbye, zipping off in a flash.

"Later, Morton!" Horton waved back, watching the mouse zip along, then turned back to his students," Anyway kids, where were we?" He asked, only to notice that Tommy had stepped out of the water and joined the other animals, who were now looking up at the sky.

"Cooollll~" Tommy spoke. Horton decided to get out of the water and stand beside them, looking up as well. Dark storm clouds loomed over the jungle, but they seemed darker as usual.

"Looks like we'll be getting a little rainfall," Horton stated.

"Awww man, I don't want my beautiful feathers to get all wet and soggy," Jessica complained. The other animal next to her, which was green and four-legged, just rolled her eyes at the bird's whining.

"Well kids, you better get back to your parents. Class ends early today I'm afraid." Horton sadly said to the younger animals.

"Awwwwwww," Tommy whined, "But I wanted to do another Horton Omega Water Bomb 3000!"

"Don't worry Tommy, there's always tomorrow," Horton reassured him, patting him on the head with his trunk, "Now head along, don't want your parents to be worried." The kids nodded and started walking their separate ways.

"Bye, Horton!" Rudy waved, as well as Tommy, Jessica, and the other animal, Angela. Horton waved back and was about to head on his own way when the small, yellow yak appeared right in front of him.

"Uhm…Katie," he spoke, "You need to go home." The little animal, apparently named Katie, just opened her mouth and let out a awkward sigh-like noise.

"Home, Katie." Horton picked her up by his trunk and set her behind him facing the opposite way, "That way." But Katie only turned back around and stood next to Horton.

"Katie, class is over. Home, now!" He had just about had it with the little animal when she finally spoke.

"Mommy said I can't walk home without adult supervision." She said with a big smile.

Horton sighed, now knowing why she wouldn't leave him…she couldn't. And that last thing he needed was a family of angry yaks furious at him.

"Alright Katie, get on my back," the elephant said, and the little yellow animal climbed up on his back with ease, "Just hang on and I'll take you home." Horton than began walking back the way the other kids headed home, hoping he would make it to take Katie home and back to his before any heavy rainfall would start falling.

* * *

The clouds starting loom more over the Jungle of Nool, and the other animals began to stop whatever they were doing and notice. A large, purple kangaroo looked up at the sky with frown, and a large bird, looking just like Jessica, joined her side.

"I don't get it, Mrs. Kangaroo, earlier the other birds said they never noticed any hints of a storm coming," the bird spoke to the kangaroo, "It's like it came out of nowhere."

"Storms don't come out of nowhere, Mrs. Quilligan." The kangaroo retorted, "I don't like the look of this storm, either. It's like…I'm sensing something…coming."

Mrs. Quilligan started flapping nervously, feathers falling from her wings, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I don't like the sound of that!"

"We should round up the other animals in Nool. Get together and find somewhere safe to stay until this 'storm' passes."

"Oh dear! First Vlad disappears and now this!" Mrs. Quilligan said as she continued to flap around nervously, " I just hope the children are okay…"

"They are with Horton, they should be fine," Mrs. Kangaroo reassured. Months ago she would stated differently, but ever since the whole ordeal with Horton proving there was another world on a small clover, she gave the elephant her utmost trust.

Suddenly, some bushes started rustling nearby, and Tommy, Jessica, and Angela popped out, heading over where Mrs. Kangaroo and Mrs. Quilligan stood.

"Mom!" Jessica called out to Mrs. Quilligan, and the nervous stopped flapping, skipping over to her child.

"Jessica, sweetheart!" The mother bird smothered the younger in hugs and kisses, "I'm so glad you're safe." She looked at the other kids, "Where's Horton?"

"He sent us home early because of the storm," Tommy stated, " Katie went with Horton though so he could walk her home. They should be here soon." Mrs. Kangaroo quickly hopped over to the kids, noticing Rudy was nowhere to be seen among them.

"Uhm, kids…where's Rudy?" She asked worryingly.

"Uh…" Tommy spoke, looking around.

"He was right behind us like…10 minutes ago." Angela told her, which made her even more worried. Thunder suddenly boomed from the clouds, causing the whole jungle to shake. She gritted her teeth and started hopping back the way the children came from.

"Mrs. Kangaroo, where are you going?" Jessica asked.

"Going to find my child," She answered, sternly, "Mrs. Quilligan, I'll leave it up to you to take the rest of the kids back to their parents and round up the rest of the animals of Nool until I get back."

The bird nodded, "Y-Yes, ma'am!"

"Just stay safe," was the last thing the kangaroo said before she disappeared back into the folly of green.

* * *

Thunder after thunder continued to shake the jungle, and Horton looked up at the sky nervously. This certainly wasn't any regular storm the jungle had experienced before, and he had to get Katie home before anything happened, even if it meant he had to walk back home in the rain. The little yellow yak was his first priority. And an elephant is faithful, one hundred percent.

"You hanging on there tight, Katie?" Horton asked the child, who was shaking slightly from loud noises coming from the sky above. She nodded her head and let out a small, "Mhm."

"Good. Just hang on a little longer, we're almost to your home now," the elephant assured her. He continued to walk down the path when he suddenly heard some rustling in bushes nearby. Surprised, Horton stood up in a fighting stance to defend himself, yelling, "Who's there?!" But it was non other than the purple joey, Rudy, who popped out.

"It's just me, Mr. Horton," the joey spoke, and the elephant sighed in relief.

"Rudy, what are you doing here? You should be home!" Horton stated, but the joey just frowned and scratched his head.

"I was...on my way, but…I kinda got lost from the others, and I can't find my way back. I always rode in my mother's pouch so I don't exactly know the way home." Horton sighed and walked over to the kangaroo, patting him on the head.

"Don't worry about it, just stay with me and Katie and I'll take you both home," the kind elephant told him, and Rudy smiled happily, "Last thing I need is to get on your mother's bad side again."

Rudy chuckled and thanked him. "Thanks, Mr. Horton." The kangaroo jumped out from the bushes and joined Horton's side, and they both continued down the path.

Horton, Katie, and Rudy stayed close to one another, the two younger animals staying closer to the elephant every time thunder boomed again from the sky. After walking for a few minutes, they came across a large abundance of trees, and Horton smiled.

"Hey I know these trees. That means your home is just around the corner, kids," Horton happily assured them.

"Yay!" Katie cheered, jumping up and down on his back.

But suddenly, Horton's ears perked up, for he had heard a sound from the bushes nearby. It almost sounded as if someone was…crying.

"Do you kids hear that?" The two other animals lifted up their ears and listened, hearing the same.

"Mhm," Katie answered.

"It sounds like someone is…crying," Horton frowned.

"Maybe someone is hurt and needs our help," Rudy said, and he turned around and hopped over to the bushes. Horton quickly followed after him.

"Rudy, be careful," he warned, and the kangaroo nodded, and arriving at the bushes where the sound was emitting from, he pushed back some ferns to behold sight of an animal none of the three had seen before.

It looked like a kind of dog…but it's whole body was covered in jagged rock, from the tip of it's snout to the tip of it's tail. It had bright yellow eyes, a scar on its right eye, and it's mouth was opened slightly, showing an abundance of serrated teeth. It was probably no bigger than Rudy in size and it was this very animal that the crying was coming from, letting out small wolf-like cries as it curled up in a ball by a tree.

"Who is that?" Rudy questioned, and Horton shook his head, dumbfounded at the sight of the strange creature.

"I don't know…I've never seen an animal like it in the Jungle of Nool," Horton answered. The animal has not yet noticed them, but continued to let out small whines.

"You think he's hurt?" Rudy asked.

"I don't know," Horton said, and he grabbed Katie from his back with his trunk, setting her beside the joey, " But you kids stay right here…I'll go see if I can talk to him." Rudy nodded as he picked up Katie and held her close, watching nervously as Horton slowly walked over to the mysterious animal.

"Hey there little fella," Horton greeted the creature, getting its attention and it sharply turned its head to face the elephant, shaking slightly, "Shhh…don't be afraid. I'm a friend. My name's Horton, what's yours?"

The animal didn't answer, but started to slowly stand up, never taking its sight off of Horton. Horton swallowed nervously, but he put any fears in the back of his mind and continued to speak, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you."

Rudy watched with fear as the animal turned its body around to fully face Horton, and he noticed it opening its jaws slightly, showing its teeth. "Horton.." the joey called out trying to warn him, but the elephant immediately shushed him.

"Rudy, stay quiet, we don't want to scare him," Horton answered, but Rudy shook his head.

"I don't think he's scared…" the kangaroo nearly squeaked in horror as Horton began to extend his trunk to the beast.

"There's nothing to worry about, I'm your friend. Now come along, and we'll help you find your way back home."

Suddenly, another loud thunder boom roared from the clouds, shaking the ground. Horton could swear he heard Rudy cry out before he noticed the rock-beast lunge at him, and it grabbed his trunk between its razor-sharp jaws.

"HORTON!" Katie and Rudy cried out in horror as the elephant screamed in pain, lifting his trunk and trying to flail around, hoping to shake the monster off.

"AUUUGGHHH! MY TRUNK! IT HAS MY TRUNK!" He cried out as he continued to flail around, but with each shake, it only made the monster clamp on tighter. The pain was overwhelming, and he could swear he could feel some warm blood drip from the creature's jaws. He quickly glanced back at the kids for a split second, "KIDS! RUN! RUN HOME!"

"WE'RE NOT LEAVING YOU!" Rudy boldly yelled, and he was about to go help the poor elephant when a suddenly a lightning bolt impacted the ground just a few feet away from him, and both Rudy and Katie screamed in horror, falling back from the friction.

"RUDY! KATIE!" Horton cried out in horror as he watched the kids fall back, praying they didn't get hit by the bolt of lightning. But he couldn't ignore the creature that continued to clamp on his trunk, and he cried out again, hitting it against a large tree trunk, and with a yelp, it finally let go.

Horton fell to his hands and knees, panting heavily. His trunk throbbed heavily, and it stung to breath from it. There were deep bite marks from where the creature had struck, and blood continued to lightly flow. The creature growled angrily, blood dripping from its jaws, and it started to get up, its eyes burning with anger and fury at the elephant. What he didn't expect it to do was suddenly speak…in a soft, gravely voice…

"Earth…warrior…"

Horton had no idea what that meant, but he knew the creature was gonna strike again, and even if it killed him, he swore to protect Katie and Rudy. Suddenly, a loud rumble once again shook the ground, but it wasn't from thunder.

The crack from where the lightning had struck began to split, larger and larger, the ground cracking around Horton and the beast. The creature continued to growl, but it didn't strike, and Horton could have sworn he saw it grin. The cracks continued to appear around them when they suddenly stopped, and the ground shook again, causing the cracks to split apart the land, and a loud roar erupted from inside.

A huge hand, made of rock, gripped the ground above where Horton stood, and a creature made entirely of stone like the one that had attacked him, appeared before him. This creature however stood on two legs, with huge, large arms and hands made of stone, and it had a small head with no mouth, two large, red eyes looking down on him. The creature, now completely standing before him, was at least 20 feet tall, towering over the elephant, and it hit its fist with his hand, ready to clobber him. The other, small rock creature from before walked over to its side, that evil grin still etched across his face, and spoke one last time before the giant rock monster lifted its fist to throw the first punch.

"Die…"

Horton yelled out as he managed to dodge the giant's punch, the impact causing the ground to break and a huge pit was left where the fist hit. Horton gasped heavily, he could only imagine the pain if that punch had hit its target. The four-legged creature growled, and Horton could see another large stone hand emerge from the break in the ground and grip the edge, followed by another, and another. _'THERE'S MORE OF THESE THINGS?" _the elephant screamed in his mind; there was no way he could fight these beasts. He had to get out of here. He had to grab Rudy and Katie and run.

He got on all his feet and bolted the opposite way, jumping over the other gape in the ground, and he ran over to Katie and Rudy, who were both standing, traumatized at the sight before them. More giants emerged next to other, as well as other of the wolf-like creatures, and Horton knew then they had to get the hell out of there.

"RUDY! KATIE! GET ON MY BACK AND HOLD ON AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN!" The two younger animals quickly nodded and scrambled onto the elephant's back, and as soon as they were safely clinging on, Horton bolted back into the foilage of the jungle, and the wolf-like creatures gave chase, the giants slowly following.

Horton ran as fast as ever had before, even faster than that time he was trying to protect the clover from Vlad-I-Koff. His trunk continued to throb in pain and his lungs were heaving, but he knew if he lagged back a little bit, it would mean certain death for the three of them, and he would never forgive himself if anything happened to the children. The rock wolves followed not too far behind, but since their body was made of rocks, it slowed them down more than your regular run-of-a-mill wolf.

"HORTON! WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?" Rudy asked, trembling in fear.

"I DON'T KNOW RUDY, BUT WE HAVE TO GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Horton could see at the corner of his eye, one of the wolves had caught up to him a couple feet away, and he tried to run faster, but he could feel his lungs paining to breath. He couldn't continue on much longer.

After a few more seconds of running, one of the monsters had enough of the chase, and once it was perfectly lined next to them, it pounced from the foliage and tackled the elephant down, and all three animals cried out as they all tumbled to the ground. Horton could feel his side burning from the deep gash the creature planted when it hit him, but he had to ignore it and protect the children. He rolled onto his feet and stood over the kids, three of the creatures growling and circulating him.

"STAY CLOSE TO ME KIDS! NO MATTER WHAT, STAY BEHIND ME!"

Horton was ready to take every hit from these beasts; he wasn't going to let these beasts lay one claw on the youths, he would fight to the death if he had to. One of the wolves was just about lunge right at him, and both Rudy and Katie screamed, but the purple flash suddenly emerged from the bushes and tackled the creature, wrestling it to the ground. It was none other than Mrs. Kangaroo.

"MOM!" Rudy cried out, fearful for his mom, but she managed to pick the creature up, and throw it with force against a tree, knocking it cold. The other two lunged at her at the same time, but with her large feet, she jumped out of the way and they collided with one another, then when she hit the ground she grabbed them by both their tails, and like the other, tossed one onto a tree, and the other out of sight. The other that hit the tree wasn't knocked out, and it tried to get up, but she snarled at it, and it knew it was no match for the marsupial, so it just ran away, yelping.

"Woah…" All three animals gaped from the sight of what was just played out in front of them. Horton blushed slightly, never did he think Mrs. Kangaroo could be so…amazing like that. Rudy hopped over to his mom in relief, and she caught her child in a big embrace.

"Wow, mom! You kicked their butts!" He yelled out, and she giggled at her son.

"Nothing can stop a mom when it comes to protecting her young," she added, and she kissed the joey on the cheek.

Horton could hear the sound of the others coming, so he quickly grabbed Katie and ran over to the kangaroo, "Mrs. Kangaroo, you need to take Katie back to her parents and yourself safely back to the others. I'll distract them." Mrs. Kangaroo looked at Horton, dumfounded.

"Horton, what were those things? I've never seen animals like it in all of Nool." She asked, but before the elephant could answer, she noticed the huge wound on his side, and the wound on his trunk. "Horton, you're hurt!"

"Don't worry about me," He said, and he noticed the creatures getting closer. "You have to get back to safety. I'll distract them. They seem to only want me…"

"But Horton, you're a part of this jungle too! You're family Horton, and family sticks together," Mrs. Kangaroo said, and Horton heart nearly melted. He smiled at Mrs. Kangaroo, and with slight pain, he took her hand in his trunk.

"I couldn't live with myself if my own family got hurt. Because an elephant is faithful, one hundred percent." Before Mrs. Kangaroo could say anything, he bolted off his own way, hoping to lead the creatures astray and away from the others. He looked back at them one last, final time and yelled out, "PROMISE ME YOU'LL BE SAFE!"

"HORTON!" Rudy cried out, and started to make chase, but his mother grabbed his hand, stopping him, "MOM! WE HAVE TO HELP HIM!"

Mrs. Kangaroo looked at her son sadly, then looked beyond as she watched the creatures turn around and give chase to the elephant, then looked back down at her son. She then picked him up and put him in her pouch, only causing him to object.

"Mom! Please!" She wished she could, she really did, but she had to keep her promise to Horton. A tear escaped her eye, and sniffed slightly. Rudy looked up at his mother sadly, knowing himself why they couldn't follow. He looked down at the ground, sniffed himself, and asked, "He'll be okay…right Mom?"

She continued to look on as Horton disappeared from her sight and the creatures continued to follow. She picked up Katie who right next to her and patted her son on the head, smiling.

"He will be, Rudy. Because he's the strongest animal I have ever known."

* * *

Horton ran farther and farther through the jungle, the faces of , Katie, Rudy, Morton, all the animals in the Jungle of Nool repeating over in his head. He didn't know if he would see them again, but all that mattered was they were safe. He huffed painfully with each intake of breath, the roars of the creatures bellowing behind him, and he continued to run. He noticed he had reached right to the start of Mt. Nool, and he knew where to go. With a little more running he reached the edge of a small cliff that stood out at the side. _"Perfect." _He stopped in his tracks, his lungs heaving painfully, and he just about collapse from pure exhaustion. But a loud roar behind him reminded him he was not alone, and fury burned inside him, turning around and facing the mob of rock creatures. He took a painful intake of breath, then screamed out.

"WHAT IS IT YOU WANT WITH ME!?" His yell echoed out, but the creatures didn't flinch, merely just continued to stand a few yards away.

"No answer huh?" He scoffed, stifling a chuckle. He couldn't believe he was laughing at his current situation, he could easily be dead within minutes, but he was. And he didn't care.

Just then, the wolf-beast that he originally ran into with the scar across it's right eye, emerged from behind one of the rock giants, and it chuckled slightly, looking at Horton with hungry eyes. It opened its mouth and spoke once again, sending a shiver down Horton's spine.

"We want you…dead…"

The creatures all at once charged at the elephant, and Horton could see his whole past life fly past him. He knew he wouldn't survive this; no longer would he see the smiling faces of the children, hang out with his buddy Morton or any of the other animals of Nool, and most of all, he couldn't thank Mrs. Kangaroo for all she had done for him. He smiled slightly, looking up at the charging beasts, thinking if he was going to die…he wasn't going down without a fight. He lifted his fist and he felt a feeling of power, responsibility, and strength flow through his body, like he could break rocks and move mountains. He took a deep breath, then with one step, he charged straight at the creatures.

"RAAUGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed out a large battle cry, and he charged, ready to feel the beasts slam into him, break every bone in his body, and throw him over the cliff. But at that very moment…he felt a strong gust of wind envelop all around him.

There was large boom that shook the entire jungle, then Horton…and the monsters…disappeared from sight.

* * *

**A/N: And that's the end of chapter 2! Hope you liked it, and hopefully it wasn't too brutal for the K+ rating. I'll change the rating if it is though. Please read and review! Next chapter will be about Jojo McDodd!**

**Next chapter: Happenings in Whoville**


	4. Happenings in Whoville

**A/N: Well, that only took FOREVER! I'm so sorry to have seemed to have abandoned this story, it just took so long to write this chapter, because my motivation just kept coming on and off, on and off... Writer's block is a real drag.**

**Well, here's Chapter 3, which is about Jojo. Things get a bit more gruesome, but nothing to raise the story's rating...I think xD**

* * *

All was well for the city of Whoville, home to a happy race of furry-like people, called the Whos. Not too long ago, the people of Whoville had discovered that their world was nothing more than a small speck of dust in another world, and a kind elephant named Horton risked his life to protect their world. After facing many perils, Horton was able to, in time, locate a safe location for their world, and the Whos never lived in fear ever again.

Or so they thought.

* * *

"Good morning, Mr .Mayor!" a friendly citizen greeted the mayor, tipping his hat in a kind gesture. The mayor waved back as he had just stepped out of his house to grab the morning newspaper then walked back inside, almost bumping into his young son, Jojo, a small Who with messy black hair.

"Woah, Dad!" Jojo cried out, then sidestepped out of his father's path.

"Woah there yourself, Jojo!" The major chuckled, "Where are you heading out so early this morning?"

"Heh, I just thought I would head up to the music tower! Just tweak around with new instruments, you know, the usual," Jojo answered. He was speaking of what was once the Old Who Observatory, which was abandoned years ago, and Jojo made into his own hide-away, making and tweaking around with new instruments, which actually helped save Whoville from impending doom months ago.

"Alrighty then, you little Mozart!" The mayor laughed, ruffling the hair on his son's head, "Go along and have fun! Don't be home too late!"

"You know I never am, dad!" Jojo said, waving goodbye and heading on his way, his dad waving back as well and walked back inside the house, closing the door behind him. He was about to head over to the breakfast table and join his wife and 96 daughters for breakfast when the phone suddenly rang, and the mayor quickly ran over to pick it up.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Mr. Mayor, this is Dr. Larue," said the voice from the other end of the phone.

"Dr. Larue! What a pleasure to hear from you!" the mayor replied happily, "What is it you need this fine, wonderful, Whoville morning?"

"I have this theory I came up with recently, and I thought to bring it to your attention." answered, "Do you think you can meet up with me at the university a little before work?"

"Of course! I'll have to leave home a little early, but I'll be there before you can say Farfetnoogen!" The mayor laughed.

"Very good then! See you soon!" answered back.

"As to you!" said the mayor, then he hung up the phone. _'I wonder what Dr. Larue needs me for…blah! It's probably no big deal! Why worry?' _The mayor thought in his head, then headed over to the breakfast table, gave his wife Sally a quick peck on the cheek, then started heading out.

"Woah, Ned!" Sally said, confused at why her husband was leaving all of a sudden, "Aren't you going to sit down with me and the girls for breakfast?"

"Oh, honey!" The mayor answered his lovely wife, "I would but I just got an important call to meet someone before work for…you know, political business. So I'm gonna have to leave a little early, but don't worry! I'll make it up to you tonight…if you know what I mean." He winked at his wife, causing her to blush.

"Ned, not in front of the girls!" Sally said flustered, pushing her husband out of the door, "Just go to whatever it is you need to!"

"Sure thing, hun," the mayor chuckled at his wife's red face, eyebrows wiggling, "I'll see you later!" He flashed his wife a double-pistols and a wink, and she just rolled her eyes, closing the door. The mayor continued to chuckle, then started making his way to the town's university, WHO-U.

* * *

Jojo whistled a small tune to himself as he made his way up the music tower, a graceful breeze blowing through his fur. The sky was blue, the sun shining, just another perfect day in Whoville. The short Who turned around and looked back at the town of Whoville; he could almost see the entire metropolis from where he was standing. He was most thankful that he was able to save such a peaceful town months ago from turmoil. There was still some construction going on the buildings that had been damaged or destroyed, but most of them had already been rebuilt pretty fast.

Jojo finally had made it to his slingshot-like contraption that he used to get to the tower from the ground; his father had offered to build a new stairway but he declined, saying it was more fun this way. After adjusting himself onto his contraption in the right way, he was suddenly flung up into the air, and arrived on his feet at the entrance of the observatory. He skipped inside by pushing through a small door he made in the larger one, and was met with thousands of different kinds of instruments all strewn around the building. To horns, drums, pipes, and other contraptions that couldn't even be explained without long, complicated explanations, the entire room was filled with peculiar instruments and objects.

Jojo smiled, hopping inside a small, metal bucket and using the ropes attached to it to hoist himself higher all the way to the top to where the observatory was opened wide to the outside, and there he could really see the entire top of Whoville; it was truly a magnificent sight to behold. He could see the other Whos, who were as small as an ant from his view, moving along and tending to themselves happily, as well as the top of the town hall where his father worked. Jojo began to remember what his father had told him not long ago; how he too one day will be mayor and lead the people of Whoville into another couple decades of happiness and harmony. The thought was quite overwhelming, but he knew he could do it. Before he didn't want to be mayor and never spoke about it to his dad, but after watching his father courageously lead the town into safety from dangerous perils…he wanted to be one day as great as him.

Jojo's thoughts were soon interrupted when he noticed some weird formations of clouds in the sky. _'That's funny,' _the small Who thought to himself, _'I didn't see those clouds a minute ago…' _The last time he can remember seeing such clouds was when the town was in danger during the time Horton was trying to find their world a place somewhere safe, but there hasn't been any recent tremors, nor any changes in the weather as far as he knew. And they hadn't heard from Horton either…surely he would tell them if anything was wrong. But something about those clouds just didn't sit right in his stomach.

"I need to tell dad…" Jojo spoke to himself, and he started to lower the bucket he still stood in. He had planned to tweak with new instruments today, but the well-being to the town and people of Whoville was more important. If he ever was going to be mayor one day, he needed to begin to be courageous now so he could be a good leader in the future, and that meant by starting to warn his father of any peculiar happenings. In all honesty, the clouds could be nothing, but as Jojo's mother always told him, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Jojo jumped from the bucket and out the door, running back to Whoville. He noticed the clouds starting to get bigger and darker…he had no time to spare.

* * *

The mayor hummed happily as he made his way through the town on toward the University, where was waiting to speak to him. The citizens waved cheerfully at their mayor as most of the town was almost to completion of being all fixed up since the incident months ago. Everything was starting to look just as it did before the destruction; even better in some areas, such as add-ons and improvements to some buildings. Overall, Whoville was coming along great, and the mayor couldn't be any more prouder.

The mayor finally reached the steps of the University, pushing his way through the door and heading up to 's office. He was more than welcome at WHO-U anytime, since he was mayor, but even more so ever since he was declared a hero of the town. Finally reaching the third floor where 's office stood, he entered the door of the professor's office, to find her working on some mathematical problems on the chalkboard. The mayor cleared his throat, getting the woman's attention, and she turned around.

"Oh! , you made it!" She exclaimed happily.

"I never miss a meeting, you know me," the mayor chuckled, leaning on her desk.

"Yes, of course," she lightly chuckled back.

"So, , what is it you wanted to see me for?" He questioned.

"Well," the professor started, "I was looking through some theories the other night, and I was thinking…"

"Uh huh?" The mayor tried to get her to continue faster, for he didn't want to be late for work.

"Since the discovery of our world being a small speck of dust in another world, and almost evading the destruction of our world…I was thinking." She continued, "Anything that happens in Horton's world affects our world greatly, such as weather, the context of night and day, etc. If anything dangerous or life threatening happened to Horton's world, there is a very good chance that it could definitely affect our world in great ways…and by great I mean not safe."

"Are you saying something bad has happened to Horton's world?" The mayor asked, a little nervous.

"…I don't know. I've been getting strange readings from our weather reader here at the University, things I cannot even explain."

"But Horton for sure would warn us of anything happening! He promised!" The mayor stated, "Also, wouldn't there be tremors or changes in our weather if any of this was happening?"

"Yes and no. You see-"

But before could continue, there was a loud boom out of nowhere that shook the whole building, causing the mayor and the professor to drop to the floor immediately. Scientific objects on top of Larue's desk dropped on the floor, smashing to pieces. The hard shaking continued for about a few more seconds before it finally stopped, and the two Whos slowly lifted their heads up in confusion and fear.

"Where the heck did that come from?!" The mayor picked himself up on his feet, scrambling around.

"Quick! We have to get outside!" exclaimed, and the both ran out of her office and down the stairs. The other Who's in the University were either panicking or standing completely still…something was happening and it wasn't good.

Finally making it outside, the two Whos found other citizens completely standing still from where they stood and looking up at the sky, where swirling clouds formed a deadly, large storm. The mayor's mouth dropped at the sight, things were not right with this weather at all, and what was most bothersome, was that Horton had not contacted them about any going ons that was happening in his world. Was 's theory right? Had something bad happened to his world…?

* * *

Jojo panted harshly as he continued to run toward Whoville, noticing the clouds had now formed into a large, deadly storm with booming thunder that made the ground shake. Something was definitely wrong, and he had to warn his father right away. But before he could reach the entrance of town, the wind from the storm began to blow harshly and the clouds began to move down before him, almost knocking the poor boy off his feet. Only a couple yards away from him now was a huge tornado, swallowing the ground and the trees around it in its fury, and Jojo quickly clung to a random nearby boulder, trying to keep himself being swept away from the tornado. The tornado started gaining speed heading toward him, and he could almost swore at this rate he would be swallowed up and killed, unable ever to warn his father of the danger that was definitely going to strike down Whoville. But before he could, the tornado suddenly started slowing down, and before Jojo had a chance to blink, the tornado disappeared as a pair of huge wings emerged from the inside, flapping away the remainder of the twister, and a giant creature took its place, landing before Jojo.

The creature looked like a giant eagle, but Jojo could see when it landed, it not only had the body, front legs, and head of an eagle, but the back body, legs, and tail of a lion. The only thing different than a regular eagle's head was it had wing-like ears as well. The creature was at least 20 feet high on four legs; he could only imagine how tall it was when it stood hind-legged. The creature slowly made his way toward Jojo, who was frozen and trembling in fear, but the creature stopped when he was a few feet away from the small Who, lowering his head, which only scared Jojo more.

"Please…don't eat me…" Jojo pleaded, but the creature only smiled.

"I'm not going eat you, young Warrior of Wind," it spoke it a low voice, surprising Jojo.

"You can talk?!" Jojo asked, suddenly not being as scared anymore, and he stopped trembling.

"But of course," the bird creature smiled, "I'm a highly intelligent officer of the Skylax's army. You may call me Drexel. And don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, for I am here to help."

"Help?" Jojo questioned, slowly, but cautiously, getting off the rock.

"Yes," Drexel nodded, "For you see, your world, as well as others, are currently under attack by evil creatures sent by an evil witch from my world. The, other worlds, so to say, have already been under attack, and the chosen warriors, such as yourself, have disappeared. So that's why I came to help you, the last warrior, and help you protect your world from the evil creatures that will soon arrive."

"Chosen warrior? Me?" Jojo asked, bewildered, "What are you talking about? Other worlds? Do you mean…Horton's world already was attacked?!"

Before Drexel could answer the boy, a large rumble began shaking the earth beneath their feet, and before they could react, a large, green vine rose from out of the ground, covered with thorns. The vine started to make its way toward Jojo and Drexel, the bird creature quickly jumping in front of Jojo and chomped the vine with his large beak, taking a huge bite out of it. A loud, earsplitting screech echoed from under the ground from where the vine rose from, causing Jojo to cover his ears, and out from the ground emerged a green, plant-like creature with huge, serrated teeth and big yellow eyes, and it roared at Drexel, obviously angry.

"I have no time to explain! QUICK! Get on my back, Jojo!" Drexel commanded the boy, and Jojo, astounded that the bird creature knew his name when he hadn't even told him, just said nothing and quickly nodded, jumping on his back as he stared in awe at the other creature before him.

"Hang on tight!" Drexel quickly stated before taking off in flight, lifting himself off the ground with his enormous wings and the plant monster missing him with its giant vines. Jojo clung to the bird's feathers on his back for dear life, even though he was used to being high up, he had never ridden a moving creature before in the sky. Jojo looked down to see the creature was trying to reach them with its vines, but Drexel was too far high up in the sky for it to reach them, which just made it retreat back under the ground.

"What the heck was that thing?" Jojo asked, still dumbfounded.

"A Mandrake. One of the many evil creatures that the dark witch has sent to capture you. And from it looks like, they are already here…"

"ME?!" Jojo cried out, "Is it because I'm what you say…a chosen warrior? A chosen warrior of what?"

"Like I said, I can't explain now. Right now, we need to get you out of here and to safety at once!" Drexel stated, but Jojo pulled on his feathers to stop him.

"WAIT! I CAN'T! I have to warn my dad so he can warn the town! If there are more of those things as you say, we have to warn them so they can get to safety!"

Drexel sighed heavily, he really needed to get Jojo away from the creatures but he understood where the boy was coming from; if his own race was in danger he would do the same. Drexel nodded, turning to Jojo.

"Very well, but make it quick. We haven't much time!" Drexel flapped his wings and began soaring toward Whoville, Jojo clinging to his back. Even though he hadn't the slight clue was this bird creature was all talking about; Chosen warrior? Monsters that were after him? All that mattered right now was getting to his father and warning him of the dangers that were threatening their world. After that was done and the people of Whoville were safe, he was sure that Drexel would explain to him what was all going on.

They were about to town when loud thunder boomed from the storm above them once again, and a stream of black smoke suddenly emerged from the storm, gliding right past Drexel's wing, and the bird creature stopped in his flight, just avoiding the black smoke.

"Oh no…" Drexel spoke fearfully.

"Oh no? What's 'Oh no'? What was that stream of smoke just now?" Jojo asked, confused, but the bird didn't answer him directly.

"She sent them…"

"Them?" Just as Jojo asked, a grey, winged creature suddenly emerged from the smoke. It looked like a kind of humanized bat, with huge bat-like wings, a man-like face, huge claws on its hands and feet, and bat-like ears. Another thing about it was…it almost looked like it was made out of a smooth stone. More streams of black smoke followed after it, and creatures just like it emerged the same way it did, and they all let out long, bellowing roars, echoing throughout the sky.

"Gargoyles…"

* * *

The mayor watched in awe as the scene above him unfolded before his very eyes; streams of black smoke emerged from the storm above the town, making their way downward, then suddenly, weird-looking bat-like creatures broke from the smoke. He couldn't get a good look of them, for they were up very high, but he started panicking as one of the creatures let out a bellowing roar, followed by many others, and they all started gliding down toward the town. The other citizens started panicking as well, some screaming, some frozen in fear of these unknown entities. The mayor swallowed his fear and clenched his fist; he couldn't allow himself to be afraid when he had a town and its people to protect.

"EVERYONE GET TO THE UNDERGROUND TUNNELS AT ONCE! THIS IS A STATE OF EMERGEN-AUGH!" Before he could continue, the mayor was hit with a brutal force, sending him flying forward onto the ground. His body ached in pain from the friction of skidding across the cement, his vision blurry, the screams and cries of the other Whos echoing in his ears. He then heard a loud thump, and he was grabbed from the back of his head, crying out as he was pulled up from the ground harshly, then found himself face-to-face with big, ugly, grey head.

"WHERE IS THE WARRIOR OF WIND!?" The monster roared in his face, it's breath raunchy and almost knocked the mayor out from the horrible stench. The mayor merely trembled in fear, hardly able to fathom words as the creature's yellow eyes were piercing into his own.

"W-W-W-Wha-at?" The mayor stuttered, causing the creature to roar in his face again.

"YOU HEARD ME, MORTAL! WHERE IS THE WARRIOR OF WIND?! I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING HIM! TELL ME!" The monster made no sense; Warrior of Wind? What the heck was that? The mayor couldn't understand what it meant.

"I…d-d-don't know w-what you're t-talking a-about…" Was all the mayor could say, which was the truth. He had no information whatsoever for this beast, and he continued to just tremble in fear, completely helpless. His eyes widened as he saw the beast lift up his other claw, digging its sharp nails in his skull more, causing the mayor to whimper.

"Then you are of no use to me…" The creature lifted his claw, ready to strike, when another mysterious winged creature swooped down from the sky, tackling the monster on its side and making it let go of the mayor, who was thrown onto the ground again. The mayor groaned in pain, managing to pick himself up when he felt a pair of small hands grab onto arm helping him, which turned out to be no other than his son, Jojo.

"JOJO!" The mayor gathered his son in a big hug, totally relieved. "I'm so happy you're safe!"

"Dad-"

"Come on! We need to get your mom and your sisters and get out of here!" The mayor interrupted his son, but Jojo just stood still, not moving an inch. "Jojo come on!"

"I can't, dad!" Jojo said sternly, causing his father to gape.

"WHAT!?"

"There's a lot of weird stuff going on, some I'm still unsure of, but the reason all these monsters are attacking, it's because of me! Because I'm the Warrior of Wind!" The mayor shook his head at what his son was telling him. This…warrior of wind the monster was asking him for…was his own son?

"What on heck are you talking about?!" The mayor couldn't take this all in.

"I don't entirely know either! But all this stuff is happening because of me and I'm gonna fix it!" Jojo turned to run the other way, only to find himself blocked by another gargoyle. The creature growled furiously, and the poor boy was frozen in fear.

"JOJO!" The mayor cried out for his son, quickly jumping in front of him to protect him. But before the creature could attack, the bird creature from before leapt from the other decapitated gargoyle and grabbed the creatures head with his huge beak, lifting it off the ground and flinging it onto a nearby wall, and the monster shattered into pieces, like a stone statue.

"Jojo, are you alright?" The bird asked the boy calmly, and Jojo nodded, his father just frozen, in both fear and astonishment.

"I'm fine, Drexel. By the way, this is my dad." Jojo introduced his father, who continued to gape at the bird creature.

"Very honored to meet you dear man, my name is Drexel. I'm a griffin, and I've been ordered to protect your son at all cost." The griffin bowed before the mayor, and the mayor shakily raised a hand to give a small wave.

"I-I-I…uh…" But before the mayor could speak coherently, a large vine rose up from the ground nearby, covered in large thorns, causing the mayor to scream.

"We can't talk here! QUICKLY, BOTH OF YOU, ON MY BACK!" Drexel shouted. Jojo nodded and grabbed his frozen father, dragging him onto the griffin's back. Once they were secure, Drexel flapped his large wings and soared quickly into the air, the vines following but not nearly long enough to stay in chase. The mayor screamed as he clung onto the griffin's back, terrified of the intense speed they were traveling in, nothing holding them down as the force of the wind was pushing against them. Soon they came to quick halt, the mayor whimpering in fear as he continued to cling on tightly.

"What are we gonna do?" Jojo asked.

"The creatures have increased in numbers. There's no way we can fight them all off." Drexel stated, "I was, however, given a n item from my superior that will allow me to transport myself back to my world once I found you. This spell will also make all the evil creatures disappear from this world."

"You mean…I'll have to leave too?" Jojo sadly questioned.

"It was my mission to do so, yes," Drexel answered. Jojo said nothing as he sat in silence on the griffin's back, thinking hard what this all meant and would lead to. Suddenly his father rose his head up from burying his face in the griffin's feathers, shouting in protest.

"YOU ARE NOT TAKING MY SON ANYWHERE!" The mayor cried out, but never got an answer, for exactly at that moment, the three found themselves completely surrounded by at least a dozen gargoyles in mid-air. A slightly taller and darker gargoyle, most likely being the leader, pointed out and yelled at his fellow monsters.

"CAPTURE THEM!" The other gargoyles all at the same time charged at the griffin, but Drexel acted quickly, flying upward and causing some of the gargoyles to collide with each other. However, some were not as dimwitted, and acted fast as well, following Drexel in flight. The griffin tried different maneuvers, going up and down, side to side, making sharp turns, trying to lose the creatures or hopefully confuse them. Usually he would engage in combat and fight the beasts, but with two helpless individuals on his back, he couldn't take the chance and risk them getting hurt, so all he could do is fly away. Suddenly Drexel got an idea, but he would need Jojo and his father to cling to him as hard as they could.

"HANG ON AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN! THINGS ARE GONNA GET A LITTLE DIZZY!"

"DIZZY!?" The mayor didn't like the sound of that, for he was already slightly suffering from motion sickness, but he hardly had the time to react when the griffin suddenly started making a sharp turn and turned upside down.

Drexel flew between some buildings, causing some of the gargoyles to crash into them, but at least three were still on his tail. He quickly soared up from the buildings and in circular formation, flew up as high as he could into the sky that he tried to hide himself in the clouds, where he swore he lost one gargoyle, but two remained. He would have to lose them if he would get the two Whos to safety.

After some quick maneuvers, he led them out of the clouds and back between the buildings of Whoville, where one gargoyle emitted a dark sphere made of a black fire of sorts from its mouth, slightly grazing Drexel's wing. The griffin growled in pain, but he pushed himself and kept going, when he finally spotted two, tall identical buildings next to each other. Without question, he flew toward them trying to make the two gargoyles believe he was gonna fly over them, then at the last second he glided himself right between the buildings, causing the last two gargoyles to collide with the brick and crumble into a million pieces.

"Are you two alright?" Drexel looked back at the two clinging to his back, Jojo lifting his head and nodding reassuringly. His father, however, felt differently, his face now turned a completely green pigment, and he lifted up his head only to hurl on the side. He hadn't really had breakfast, so it wasn't much…but still.

"Ugh, dad…" Jojo wrinkled his nose in disgust. Drexel could feel something warm dripping down the side of his feathers…he just shook his head and tried to ignore it the best he could.

Drexel came to halt and landed on the roof of one of the buildings, which turned to be non other than the mayor's house where he and his family lived. Jojo jumped off the griffin's back and helped his woozy father down as well, climbing off the roof and into one of the windows. After leading his father inside, Jojo quickly turned to Drexel.

"Let me get my family together safely and I'll be right back up." Drexel nodded to the boy, raising his wings.

"Good, I'll try and hold off any evil creatures that try to come near this house. Do what you can but don't take too long, we need to leave as soon as possible so we disappear from this world along with these beasts." The griffin jumped into flight and Jojo watched as he soared into the sky, then jumped back through the window, where his mother and some of his sisters had met up with his dad.

"Jojo! Oh my dear son, I'm so glad you're safe!" The mayor's wife gathered her son in a big embrace, embarrassing the boy a bit. After a while of smothering her son, she put set him down, giving him a chance to speak.

"Mom, you and Dad need to stay here with my sisters, everything will be over soon." Jojo spoke, causing his mother to worry what he meant.

"What do you mean-"

"JOJO, YOU'RE COMING WITH YOUR FAMILY AND THE REST OF WHAT WE CAN RESCUE OF THIS TOWN UNDERGROUND! YOU'RE NOT GOING WITH THAT MONSTER!" The mayor interrupted loud and harshly, scaring his wife and the girls, Jojo slightly as well. They had never seen the mayor so angry before.

"NO DAD!" Jojo screamed back, just making his father angrier.

"THAT IS AN ORDER, YOUNG MAN!"

"IF I DON'T LEAVE, THIS WHOLE TOWN WILL STILL BE IN DANGER AS LONG AS I'M STILL HERE! NO ONE AND NO WHERE IS SAFE, DAD!" Jojo cried.

"AND YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT CREATURE?! WHAT IF HE'S LYING AND HE'S REALLY CAHOOTS WITH THOSE OTHER BEASTS!?"

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?! HE SAVED YOUR LIFE!"

"I'M YOUR FATHER AND WHAT I SAY, YOU FO-"

"ENNOUUGGHHH!" The mayor's wife suddenly screamed out as loud as she could, quickly shushing the other two, the girls still frightened and hiding behind their mother. "NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME, YOU TWO, ARGUING WILL GET YOU NO WHERE! JUST WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHERE ON EARTH DID THESE MONSTERS ATTACKING THE CITY COME FROM? AND WHAT IN THE WORLD IS JOJO TALKING ABOUT?"

"Mom, I-"

But before Jojo could finish answering his mother, a loud crash was heard from downstairs, along with a scream from one of Jojo's sisters. They all quickly stopped chatting and raced downstairs, discovering the entrance of the house completely smashed and in a pile of rubble, Drexel sprawled out in the middle of the floor. The griffin growled in pain, his feather's all messed and ruffled, blood seeping from a deep gash in his side. Jojo was about to go down and help him when a loud roar filled the room, and the slightly taller and darker gargoyle from before entered the room through the destroyed part of the house, accompanied by two other gargoyles by his side, and a few Mandrakes just a few yards behind him. The creature walked over to Drexel and grabbed the wounded griffin by one of his ears and pulled him up, causing him to moan painfully. Jojo also noticed two of his sisters were hiding under a side table against the wall, shivering in fear, but his attention was immediately taken back to Drexel and the gargoyle.

"You think you're so tough, don't you? A knight chosen by his guardian to protect this boy? You're absolutely worthless." The gargoyle spat in the griffin's face, "Now hand over the boy, or else we'll kill you and every living being on this god forsaken speck!"

Drexel, though in pain, looked up at the gargoyle and shot him a piercing stare. "You may kill me, but you and your idiotic queen will never get your hands on this boy, for he is one of the chosen four that will lead you all into damnation, AND SEUSSIA WILL TRIUMPH OVER YOU EVILDOERS!"

The gargoyle snarled at Drexel, slashing his claws through his face, causing the griffin to screech out in pain as the flesh over right cheek was torn.

"YOU DARE SPEAK OF OUR QUEEN, YOU INSOLENT HAWK?!" But right before he landed a second blow, a small sneeze caught his attention, causing the gargoyle to steer his mind to the sisters that were hiding under the table. The gargoyle's grin stretched wide, staring at the two trembling girls, who had both noticed the monster making his way toward them.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A little snack?" One of the girl's could feel tears erupted from her eyes she was so frightened.

"HOLLY! HILDA!" The mayor shouted out, making his way down the stairs, "DON'T YOU TOUCH MY GIRLS, YOU MONSTER!" The mayor quickly jumped in front of his daughters, ready to take the blow.

"DAD! NO! " Jojo quickly climbed onto the stair's railing, his mother crying out in fear for her son, but he didn't respond. Then just before the gargoyle could strike down his father, the small Who jumped onto the gargoyle's shoulders and covered his eyes, blinding the monster.

"GET OFF OF ME, YOU LITTLE PARASITE!" The gargoyle snarled in rage, grabbing Jojo off his shoulders, and threw him into a pile of rubble. Jojo's father scrambled to go help his son, but the other two gargoyles blocked his path, and then suddenly he found himself lifted off the ground by smaller vines wrapped around his wrists and torso.

"DADDY!" One of the girls cried out in fear, but they too were grabbed by some vines and lifted up in the air, crying out in fear. Their mother quickly rushed down the stairs to help her family, who were in danger, but she too was captured by the wayward vines, lifted up and dangling right beside her husband and girls, the owner of the vines emerging from the floor. The mandrake gave out a loud, earsplitting screech, almost rendering them deaf.

Jojo groaned in pain, his whole body aching from the rough impact, then his head began to throb from the sound of the mandrake's cry. He sat up to cover his ears from the horrible wailing, only for his eyes to meet with that of the black gargoyle, the beast grinning down at him, showing a row of jagged, serrated teeth. The monster picked up the boy by his throat, Jojo struggling to breath as the monster gripped a tight hold around his neck.

"Look around you," the monster spoke in a deep, menacing tone, "Is this what you wish for your dear family? If you come with us, I'll promise we'll release them and guarantee their safety. However, if you refuse, we'll kill them along with all the worthless mortals in this piece of junk town. So…what do you say?"

Jojo grunted pitifully, weakly looking up at his father, mother, and two sisters that were in the clutches of that plant monster, and he knew in one snap of his fingers, the gargoyle could command the beast to devour them whole in a second. His other sisters must have been out or hiding in the house somewhere, but they too would all be captured as easily and killed…along with all the other innocent citizens of Whoville. He hadn't a clue of what the monsters would do with him if they had him in his clutches, but he couldn't afford the risk of the whole town getting hurt, especially his family. He may never become mayor, but he needed to act like one; his father always told him whenever it came to being mayor of the city of Whoville, the town and the safety of its citizens come first. And the people you love that live within it.

Jojo looked one last time at his family, glancing at his father eye to eye, telling him he had to do what he had to protect them. His father's eyes widened at his son's glance, but before he could respond any more, Jojo looked back at the gargoyle that held him in his clutches, and spoke out what he could from the monster's grip. "….I'll come."

The next second Jojo found himself released from the gargoyle's grip and thrown on the ground, because the monster had suddenly been rushed into the wall by another slamming into him. Jojo looked up to see none other than Drexel pinning the gargoyle down with what strength that remained in his weakened and damaged body. The other gargoyles quickly came to their leader's aid, grabbing the griffin by his wings and digging their sharp claws into him, causing the bird creature to screech out. The griffin's wings were pulled back by the monsters, pulling Drexel in an upright position, and before he could react, the leader took his claw and pierced the griffin…right through the chest.

Jojo just sat and watched as it all happened so fast…as Drexel was outnumbered by the creatures and then suddenly stabbed through the chest with the black gargoyle's claws like it was nothing. Drexel didn't cry out in pain or nothing, just merely stood still as blood started to drip and stain his feathers. The gargoyle pulled back his hand and watched as the griffin slowly began to fall limp, then crashed on the ground in a bloody, messy heap.

"DREXEL!" Jojo cried out, tears beginning to form in his eyes. It was over. The only protection he had through this whole mess was now dead, and he felt like he could do nothing. Even though he had only known the griffin such a short time, he had felt that feeling of trust toward him, and trusted that he would have helped him protect Whoville and his family. But now he felt powerless, weak, and vulnerable. He never even got to ask Drexel why this all was happening, why he was this Chosen warrior Drexel spoke of. But now he started to feel angry. If only he wasn't this Chosen warrior, none of this would have happened. His family being threatened. The town overrun and the citizens scared. The monsters. None of it.

It was all his fault.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Jojo fell on his knees, screaming at the top of his lungs. He hadn't noticed, since his eyes were shut, but as he cried out, a powerful gust of wind seemed to emit from the boy, surprising the gargoyles and other monsters. They were all blown back by the brute force, through the walls of the house and outside into the other surrounding buildings. Most of the weaker gargoyles had also been obliterated by the wind. Jojo's family had also been released from the clutches of the Mandrake, who had retreated underground.

The gust of wind from around Jojo stopped, causing the boy to open his eyes, wondering what had happened. Jojo's father ran over to his son with open arms, pulling him into a big hug, relieved and baffled at the same time.

"Jojo! That was amazing!" The mayor cried out, "How'd you do that?!"

" What…?" But before he could answer his dad, Jojo's attention immediately drew to Drexel, who was still motionless on the floor. Jojo jumped out of his father's arms and ran over to the wounded griffin, blood pooling out from under him.

"Drexel! DREXEL!" Jojo nudged the bird creature as hard as he could with his small hands, hoping he was still at least conscious. The griffin then groaned it reply, opening his eyes weakly, and Jojo smiled in relief. "Drexel, you're still okay!"

"Jojo…" The griffin replied weakly and hazily, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps. Even though he was still alive, he wasn't going to be for long.

"Drexel, the gargoyles…and the Mandrake! They all suddenly disappeared! I felt this…strange purge of energy flow through me, and I felt wind surround my body…then they all vanished! Isn't that weird?"

Drexel smiled weakly at the young Who, who's face was completely brightened. "Your power has awakened inside you…but the monsters…they have not disappeared, just…merely thrown back from your control of wind." Jojo looked up to see more large holes in the walls of their house, and through one of the holes, the black gargoyle slowly getting up from where he lay, more angry than ever.

"We have no more time…" Drexel spoke through hacking coughs, "I've…already cast a spell that will make them all disappear, but you will disappear from this place as well. But not to worry…you will arrive somewhere safe, where you meet up with your other fellow warriors…and…" But before Drexel could finish, the gargoyle burst through the walls again, bellowing furiously. Drexel growled in pain, lifting himself off the ground as best as he could, when he was obviously already in a dying state.

"Drexel, no! I NEED YOU! THERE'S SO MUCH I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Jojo cried out, tears forming in his eyes. The griffin smiled down at the boy one last time, putting his claw on Jojo's head as he slowly stroked the boys hair.

"You remind me…of my own son…" Drexel took one last look at the boy before he turned around and faced the gargoyle, raising his tattered wings, then spoke one last time to him.

"Find the wizards, Jojo…they will tell you all you need to know…" Drexel then screeched out a loud battle cry, and a fiery aura began to envelop him as he charged head-on for the gargoyle. The gargoyle did the same as a dark aura surrounded him, and Drexel closed his eyes, whispering his final words, so soft and quiet that no one could hear him.

"_Forgive me…Oh Sovereign…" _

The two creatures clashed, but before Jojo could see what had happened, a bright light had enveloped his vision, and everything around him had vanished…his family, his home, Whoville itself…he could hear the cried of his mother and father as he found himself falling…and falling…and there was loud THUD!

Then everything turned to pitch black…

* * *

**A/N: End of Chapter 3, which marks the end of the introduction chapters! Next chapter starts the beginning of the real story, where our heroes will find themselves in a whole new world...called Seussia. It also marks the first appearance of actual other Dr. Seuss characters besides the ones from The Lorax and Horton Hears A Who. You'll see who when the next chapter comes around, I just promise it won't be as long as it took to write this chapter :)**

**Next Chapter: A Whole Other World. **


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